Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) has a long history of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through rigorous research, innovative teaching, and authentic community engagement. Founded in 1973, the School of Health Sciences at UMass Amherst was led by William A. Darity, the first African American student awarded a PhD by the University of North Carolina. After earning his PhD in Public Health in 1964, Darity worked for the North Carolina Fund, an anti-poverty organization that became the model for President Johnson’s War on Poverty legislation. As Dean of the School of Health Sciences in 1973, he launched the accreditation process for the School of Public Health. Darity’s leadership and research demonstrated that societal factors such as systemic racism and discrimination are among the root causes of ill health and disparities among diverse populations. Today, SPHHS aims to provide a sustaining intellectual home for our diverse faculty and students to ensure they're flourishing. We are committed to the success of students from historically underrepresented groups.

The leadership of the SPHHS is determined to support its call for anti-racism with action. It is why we created the Center for Community Health Equity Research; why we support the Western Massachusetts Health Equity Network with whom we sponsor a bi-annual Health Equity Summit; and why our outreach and engagement office has launched the SPHHS Health Equity Summer Fellowship Program in partnership with the Upward Bound program. But we must do more. We are currently examining the policies and procedures in the school to remove systemic processes and/or criteria that perpetuate racism and discrimination due to sexual orientation, religion, or social class.

SPHHS resources for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Center for Community Health Equity Research

UMass resources:

• Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education and Development
• Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources
• Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research

Additional resources:

• ASPPH Statement: Racism Is a Public Health Crisis
• APHA: Racism and Health
• CDC: Media Statement from CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, on Racism and Health
• CDC: "Racism Is a Serious Threat to the Public’s Health"
• Ibram X. Kendi: "The Difference Between Being 'Not Racist' and Antiracist" (TED talk)
• Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations: The Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) leaders discuss the coalition’s initiative in this Scholarly Kitchen blog entry.
• Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project (The Association of American Law Schools)
• Sojourner Truth School
• The Conscripted Curriculum and the Reproduction of Racial Inequalities in Contemporary U.S. Medical Education (creating inclusive classrooms/journal article)
• Scaffolding anti-racism resources
• Camara Jones, APHA Past-President, on “Allegories on race and racism” (video)
• Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility, on “Debunking the most common myths white people tell about race” (video)
• Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions (Counseling Diverse Populations) (book)
• If you want more women in your workforce, here’s how to recruit (Nature.com article)
• Baratunde Thurston: How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time (video)